Finally!

More NBA news and silliness from the first week of action after the jump.

After a week, the Spurs suck, the Hawks are doing great, Greg Oden is hurt again, and Allen Iverson and Chauncey Billups switched teams. The first two are explainawayable, and the second is somewhat to be expected – but the Iverson-Billups trade was the first and probably the biggest WTF-moment of the season.

At first glance, the trade makes no sense to either team. However, the consensus after a week of head-scratching seems to be that a change needed to be made for both teams. Both teams were good, but not great; if trading away the beating heart of Detroit basketball for one of the best pure scorers in history is the way to ascend for both or either, then so be it. The question remains whether the experiment will work for either team.

I’m not sure how Chauncey feels about all this. I know how Rip feels about this. AI, though, seems pretty okay.

Carmelo’s been feeling symbolic lately. First, when Iverson was traded, he cut off his braids:

So much for luck.

Then he said he would score 44 points against Golden State, in honor of the newly-elected 44th President of the US, Barack Obama. Unfortunately, he only scored 28 points – on 30 shots. Oops.

As absorbed as the league has been with the Chauncey-AI storyline, other stuff has happened too. For example, the Knicks have been running. Winning? Not in particular. It’s early, after all, though, and they have been running. And the Suns, without D’Antoni, appear to still be running themselves, and they’re still leading the league at 106.4 ppg, on 55.2% field goal shooting. Amaré scored 49 points in their last game, and they don’t seem to be slowing down all that much. However: did you see Boris Diaw’s hair?

Not a good look, baby. Not. A good look.

So, good appears to be winning so far. Further evidence of this is the failings of the Spurs. As of last night, they were 1-3 – and their one win required 55 points, 10 assists, and 7 rebounds from Tony Parker to beat, of all teams, the Minnesota Timberwolves. Without Manu Ginobili, it’s ever clearer that their team is composed of a couple All-Stars and twelve members of the JV squad. And, you know? I’m okay with that.

And the Lakers are doing well, of course. Except maybe Luke Walton, who’s been getting miniscule PT – and rags from his teammates. Have I ever mentioned that I love Jordan Farmar? ‘Cause I do.

Finally, the Blazers pulled out an astonishing win in overtime against the Rockets last night on a last-0.8th-of-a-second three by Brandon Roy. Like he wasn’t attractive enough already.